Grey skies ahead: Strong weather to stir up thunder, hailstorms in K-P

Peshawar, Kohat, Malakand, Hazara, parts of FATA to receive heavy rain, snow.

CHITRAL/ SWAT/ PESHAWAR:

People will have to brace themselves for some rough weather in the coming days as the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) on Tuesday issued an emergency warning for various parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

The disaster management authority cancelled the leave of officials working in the Provincial Emergency Operation Centre and assigned various duties to them, said a PDMA spokesperson. The authority received a report from the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) with detailed predictions of “very heavy” rainfall accompanied by hailstorms in areas of Peshawar, Kohat, Malakand, Hazara and parts of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.



According to the report, a strong weather system is expected to enter Pakistan through Balochistan and will lash upper parts of the country with thunderstorms, rain, snowfall and hailstorms. “The PDMA directed deputy commissioners and disaster management officials of the districts at risk to take safety precautions and make arrangements to deal with any type of disaster,” the spokesperson said. “Hazara Division faces a number of perils during heavy rains and hailstorms.”

Light rains, strong winds and snow continued to hit different parts of the province. “We have recorded rainfall over 24 hours till 8am on Tuesday morning and the latest updates will come late in the evening after our 6pm recording schedule,” said an official of the Met department in Peshawar. He added 5mm of rainfall was recorded in Peshawar, 22.7mm in Chitral, 22mm in Kalam, 6.9mm in Saidu Sharif and 4mm in Kakool, while Charsadda, Mardan, Swat and Swabi also received light rain.

The Met department forecasted periodic downpours in these areas over the next 24 hours after which the weather system causing these downpours would weaken.

“Another strong western disturbance is expected to enter the country by the end of the week and cause another series of rain and snowfall,” he warned.



FATA

In addition to a hailstorm in Parachinar, Kurram Agency, the Met department recorded 80 millimetres (mm) of rain in the tribal area till Tuesday morning. Heavy downpours and hailstorms continued in Parachinar throughout the day, causing damage to billboards.

Northern K-P

Chitral recently received its first snowfall of the season. Snow was recorded in areas of Garam Chashma, Mastuj, Torkaho, Morkaho, Darwaish and the valleys of Shishikoh and Kalash.

Meanwhile, a landslide blocked the Chitral-Booni Road for six hours, but it was later opened for traffic. Similarly, the roads of Rumbur and Bumburet also remained closed all day due to landslides and people could be seen travelling on foot.

Needless to say, snow increased the intensity of the cold in Chitral and caused a spike in the price of wood and shortage of food items as trucks were not permitted to enter the city using Lowari Tunnel.

In Swat, a landslide killed a man in Talegram in Charbagh tehsil. According to the police, the victim, identified as Sultan Khan, a resident of Talegram, was critically injured after being buried under a huge landslide caused by incessant rain. Locals rushed him to the hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

Meanwhile, a fresh spell of heavy rain and snow, which started Monday night in the mountains of Swat district, continued till Tuesday afternoon.

The hilly areas of Swat such as Kalam, Utror, Gabral, Ushu, Mankyal, Bahrain Minadam, Madyan, Malam Jabba, Lalko, Marghuzar, and Spinsar (Matta), were blanketed in white and low-lying areas were lashed by heavy downpours. According to the meteorological office in Saidu Sharif, the spell of rain and snowfall in the upper parts of Swat would continue over the next 24 hours.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25^th, 2015.